Masquerade

Dominic looked up as well, and then around at the others, "Hopefully they'll send somebody outside to check." He said, putting his arm around Nikki.Alice clung to Joey, "I don't like that girl." She whimpered, "What if this time she actually tries to hurt us?"Blair was about to get all excited that Oliver fought, but then she heard the rumbling, "Uh oh. Looks like we're going to have a busy night." She said, half-annoyed. Her attention was drawn to a frantic looking man."THE DOORS ARE GONE!" He cried.

Alexandria allowed herself in the building by transportation. She hummed a whimsical tune while prancing through the hallways, managing to keep herself unseen. She looked through a crack in the door, scoping out one of the members. Perhaps she could put one under hypnosis and hold them hostage. That sounded like a successful night to her.

"Hopefully." Nikki agreed. "But I feel bad not doing anything.. we are the SP club." She muttered. Just then she heard the man and gasped, approaching the area where the doors once were. "He's right! There's no doors..."

Blair squinted at the boy and then searched the panicky crowd for Dominic and Nikki. She finally found the blonde couple, "I think this is our cue to do something." She said.Dominic nodded, "This more than likely isn't that Agent 9 chick again. I don't think she could make the doors just disappear." He looked around, "Where is everybody else?"Alice looked around, "We should probably do something. I don't think anybody else in here has...abilities."

Alexandria scoped out Nikki. The girl looked scared and vulnerable as far as she could see, clinging to a boy. She would be perfect.

"Yes... well, we aren't aware if she has an ability or not... we can't count her out, but as of now she's our strongest lead. Mary doesn't attack anything like this.." Nikki murmured, oblivious to Alexandria's decision to go after her.

Elizabeth suddenly came running over, and paused in front of the rest of the club. "Woah... what can we do?" She asked. She had been hanging out near the punch bowl, which was on the other side of the floor.

Joey blinked. "Yeah... well, maybe one of us could blast a hole through the wall or something." He suggested. "I could do it, a metal arm isn't as controversial as superpowers are. But that's our last resort... we shouldn't destroy public property."

Dominic finally made eye contact with Alice and beckoned her to the group.Alice grabbed Joey's hand and ran over."First thing; we need to find out who has done this so we know who we are dealing with." Dominic said.Blair shook her head at the situation, "What is it with people trying to lock us in places."

Alexandria fixed a stare on Nikki. She quickly muttered, "Goitévo." She waited until Nikki's eyes were completely glazed over."Come to me." She said sharply. Although she wasn't in hearing distance of Nikki, she could still verbally command thing.

Nikki was trying to figue out who could have done this. She was caught off guard by the spell. Her eyes glazed and she shrugged out of Dominic's hold. All she knew was that she had to get to the woman at the other end of the floor.. although she could not place why.

Joey blinked at Nikki's sudden departure. "Did she need to pee or something? Well... how do we figure out what happened?" He asked. Elizabeth sighed. She noticed Oliver attempting to sleep and frowned, going over to wake him.

Another tower blew up. Once again there was no visible damage in the catherdral's ball room, but people screamed and the ground shook.

Dominic looked confused at Nikki's random decision to walk off, "Nikki, where are you going?" He asked, trying to follow her.Blair gave Nikki a look, "Okay then." She said. She looked at Joey and Alice, "While Dominic takes care of her, we need to calm these blithering idiots." She said. She stepped aside and cupped her hands over her mouth, "EVERYBODY CALM DOWN. WE WON'T MAKE ANY PROGRESS LEAVING THIS JOINT UNLESS YOU ALL SHUT UP." She hollered.

Alexandria snickered and silently cheered that her spell was successful. She glared at Dominic's attempt to follow her, "Ignore him." She snapped.

The entire room seemed to quiet at Blair's yelling. The people were obviously scared, but the confidence Blair seemed to yield made them listen. Joey looked at everyone, and glanced at the ceiling. He then looked arounnd the cathedral and spotted stained glass windows.

"hey, maybe we can get out or see whos doing this through those?" He offered. Elizabeth, meanwhile, had suceeded in waiking Oliver and the two walked to the rest of the group, Oliver with hands thrust in his jackets pockets.

Nikki did as she was told, completely ignoring Dominic. She stopped when she was close to Alexandria, and standing right in front of a window.

Alexandria grabbed Nikki's hand and teleported them back to where Roman was."Look at my hostage!" She yipped, admiring Nikki, "Isn't she cute?" Dominic blinked in shock as he watched Nikki disappear, "Nikki?" He called, in a panic. He turned back to the group, "I think somebody kidnapped Nikki. She literally just disappeared." He cried. Blair nodded at Joey, "Right." She looked at Dominic, "We'll get Nikki back. We just need to keep everybody in there. Who knows who we are dealing with, and I am NOT going to be responsible for all of these idiots' lives."

Nikki remained silent. A part of her knew that something was odd. She felt the wind against her skin, and faintly heard the voice of another. Strangely, she could only obey the voice... Nikki was not dumb, she immediatly came to the solution that she was being possessed or something. Now her only issue was getting out of this... but her vision was blurred, and she couldn't do anything on her own.Roman sat up when Alexndria came back. "Wow, that was fast!" He examined Nikki. "I guess. I think it'd look better without these--" Roman stole Nikki's glasses right off her nose. He then put them on his own nose, and stroked the hostage's head. "and with red hair. So, what are you going to do with it?"Nikki hated being called an it, but she could not say anything. her glasses had been taken, which decreased her vision even more than it was decreased before.

"Then it must be a kidnapping or something. Does she have her phone? Maybe we can hear the ring... they can't have gotten too far away." Oliver went to where the main door used to be. "It's like it just vanished... what the hell?" He murmured. "We're probably dealing with a magician." Elizabeth told the others. "They might be in the crowd right now!"

Alexandria patted Nikki on the head, "That's too bad. There was a red-headed girl in there with no glasses that I could have taken instead." She smiled slightly, "Quite an odd looking girl she was. However, pretty." She still kept a proud face at Nikki, "But this one is just lovely. I'm not too sure what I'm going to do with her though."

Dominic looked into the crowd fiercely, "I just want to know where he or she or it or they put Nikki." He sputtered. He began to pace until Blair grabbed him by the arm."Calm down, Dominic. You look like a crazy person." Alice nodded at the windows, "If Joey can punch in one of these windows without causing a scene, we could escape and possibly confront whoever is behind this."

"Ohh. I want to see!" Roman said, adjusting Nikki's glasses. Nikki kept quiet, her glazed eyes trying to recodnize the two figures. She kept a mental log of their features-- they must be wizards. "You could make her attack her friends. That sounds fun." Roman suggested. Nikki's mind froze at that. Oh please, not that, she though,

--

"I can do it!" Joey said, stopping in front of a window. He used his arm to punch a hole in the glass as delicatly as he could. He looked down. "This is only the first floor-- we can get people out through here." He said.Elizabeth cast a bit of a pitying gaze Dominics way.

Alexandria peered through a non-stained window and pointed at Blair, "That one, next to the panicked blonde boy." She said. She grabbed Nikki's hand, "I think this one means a lot to the blonde boy." A menacing grin came onto her face.

Alice looked out the window, "I don't see anybody." She said. This window lead to the back of the church, while Alexandria and Roman were at the front.Dominic glanced at Alice, still with an unnerving facial expression."Be very careful." He said quickly. He scuttled into a nearby hallway and paced up and down, looking for any signs of Nikki.Blair shook her head in pity at Dominic, "Poor boy."

Roman glanced in the window. His eyes lit up upon seeing Blair. "Very pretty." He agreed, barely paying Dominic any attention until Alexandria mentioned him.Roman tipped his head. "Really? Weird choice... so, what will you do?" He said, staring straigth at Nikki, right in the eyes. Nikki was uncomfortable, but didn't want to resist in case Alexandria found out that she was concious of what was happening.

--

"Well, neither can I. We should get out of this building first though, it could be rigged. Dominic, good luck." Joey said, as he widened the hole in the glass, hoisted himself up, and landed comfortably on the leaf littered grass.

Dominic raced down the hallway and banged on a window, seeing Nikki out of it. He then noticed Alexandria and Roman standing with her. He pounded on the window until his hand broke through, "Who are you and what are you doing with her?" His hand throbbed.Alexandria smiled and whispered quietly enough so Dominic couldn't hear, "Tell him to go away. You don't ever want to see him again."

Blair jumped after Joey and helped Alice down. "Dominic better not get himself killed. That's something that he would do." Blair grumbled, her dress now slightly torn.

Nikki paled. No, she didn't want to say that to him. But she found her feet forcing her to walk closer to him, and she couldn't resist. "I-- I-- I don't want to see you ever again." Her voice shook and trembled. It wasn't anything like her normal voice. "Go away..." She had to think of some way for him to realize she was being posessed... she tried to lift her hand to cross her fingers. She couldn't raised her hand, but her folded fingers rested against her thigh. Please don't believe me, Dominic. She thought, squeezing her eyes tightly. Roman draped an arm over Nikki's shoulder and replaced her glasses on her nose, petting her as though she was a dog.

--

"Nikki probably went to the bathroom or something." Joey said, helping a few other guests down. Elizabeth hopped down on her own and straighened her dress out. "Right now, we should focus on finding the people who attacked the building."

Alexandria had just finished her sentence when Nikki raised her hand slightly. It was a push and pull effect-- Nikki was resisting. She didn't want to hurt Dominic. "P-please just g-go away.." Nikki squeaked out, hpoing that if she got him to leave, she could avoid smacking him. Roman pushed Nikki forward slightly, and this caught her off guard. Nikki lost control and slapped Dominic clean across the face, regretting it all the while.

--

"Maybe. That will get things done faster. But how will we tell each other if we find something?" Joey said. He then turned to the people who were relitivly uninvolved. "You can go to the police and tell them what happened, or just head home. Sorry about the cut in your dance time." He told them.

Alexandria spat out a wicked laughter when Nikki slapped Dominic.Dominic put his hand to his face. He knew that even if Nikki didn't want to see him again, she would never do something like that."You have done something to her." He yelled at Alexandria."You think?" She said, still giggling.

Blair heard the laughter and bolted to the front of the building, motioning for everybody to follow. She came to a screeching holt when she saw Alexandria and Roman standing with Nikki and Dominic. She took a second to gather in what the two wizards looked like. "What the hell is going on?" Alice finally caught up, but then scuttled behind Blair upon seeing the two strangers.

"Actually, I think she just dumped you." Roman pointed out, shrugging his shoulders. Nikki was shaking but silent, clutching her hands in front of her chest. Her eyes were still glazed over."Oh look, it's the pretty one." Roman commented, as though remarking about the weather. Joey came up behind Blair. "They're doing something to Nikki!" He said. "Which one?" Oliver asked from behind Joey, his hands behind his back. "The girl looks like she's using a spell or something... look at Nikki's eyes, they're glazed!"Joey didn't even finish his sentence as Oliver stretched out his arm and aimed a powerful current of water at Alexandria."Oliver, you might hit Nikki!" Elizabeth yelped, a little too late.

Blair looked around and then to Roman, "You talkin' about me?" She asked, pointing to herself.Alexandria yelped as the water hit her. After taking in that she was now sopping wet, she gave a furious look at Oliver, "Chtypó!" She spat. A rope-like light came from her wand and electrocuted Oliver strongly enough that it would hurt, but not enough that it could do any permanent damage. Dominic grabbed Alexandria's arm, "Who the hell are you?"Alexandria whacked Dominic across the face, "Don't you dare touch me."Alice looked at Joey, "I might be able to snap Nikki out of the spell if I talk to her telepathically." She said, quietly.

"Who else would I be talking about?" he said, a wide grin overtaking most of his features. "Your hair is red, just like the color of fire. The color this building will be when I blow it to smitherines." He started to laugh.

Oliver took the hit dead on. It hurt like hell, especially since he'd never taken a hit from another powerful person before-- and he was a water user. He could still stand up, however, and after Alexadria hit Dominic, he sent another spell of water at the wizard, aiming it at her feet and knees in an effort to bring her down. His spin was slightly burnt from the electricution, but he felt fine due to the adrenaline.

"That would be really useful!" Joey said, looking at Nikki. She was still out of it, her eyes glazed and her arm a little wet. She could see everything that was happening, and it was obvious by her expression that she was trying to fight the curse.

Blair hissed and walked up to Roman so their faces were only three inches from each other, "Or red like the fire I'm about to blow into your face." She angrily exhaled a heavy amount of smoke. Alexandria slipped and fell on her bum. If there was anything she hated, it was being humiliated. Being pushed down qualified. She screamed, "Katárrefsi!" This spell would cause Oliver to temporarily lose his balance.Dominic turned around sharply and looked at Alice desperately, "Anything." He said.Alice nodded and focused on Nikki. 'As you already know, Nikki, you are under a hypnotic spell. Please snap out of it. Focus on my voice and I might be able to bring you out of it.' She said telepathically to Nikki. She spoke slowly so it would be easier for Nikki to focus.

Roman breathed in the smoke that Blair exhaled and let it out in a cough, his grin never fading. "You're rather rude, aren't you? I just gave you a compliment, and you threaten me." He tsked. "I had no idea your little club was so rude." he challenged her by closing the distance even more, staring with mirth into her eyes.

Oliver was excited when he managed to knock Alexandria down, but his excitement was short lived. Her spell caused him to fall over too. To him, it felt as though someone had tripped him with a rope. He landed on his knees, and held his hands out, resulting in scraped palms. Quickly regaining his bearings, Oliver held out his hand and shot another jet of water at Alexandria, aiming at her face this time. He glanced at the idle club memebers accusingly, though it was impossible to see through his thick mask, and stood himself up. Elizabeth decided to try and help and shot a jet of electricity with Oliver's water, although her aim was not nearly s good as Olivers and she barely had a chance at hitting Alexandria's hair.

Suddenly, there was a third voice in Nikki's head. Nikki heard Alice's voice as clearly as if she was whispering in her ear. "I want to break out. I've noticed that I have a bit more control now that Alice is distracted... uhm... and can you tell Dominic that i'm sorry?" Nikki thought. Her thoughts were clear, but for some reason it was difficult for her to control her actions.

"You've taken control of our friend and ruined everybody in that building's fun. You're expecting me to be polite?" Blair asked, "Thank you for the compliment." She facetiously added. Blair was never one for discomfort and did not back away from Roman, even if they were awkwardly close. Alexandria mumbled something and the water thrown at her was blocked by an invisible barrier. The barrier was short lived, however, by the electricity sent out by Elizabeth. It was the one thing that could counter the barrier that was not a spell. Vince looked over at Roman and thought about attacking. He then noticed Blair confronting the wizard, and decided that she probably had things under control. He looked at Alexandria. Nobody had made a motion to take her wand. Vince quickly ran over to her and latched on while she was distracted.Alexandria immediately yanked back, "Get off, you brat." She snapped, pushing him away by his face.Dominic eagerly stood over Alice's shoulder, "Is she responding?" He asked."Yes, she has acknowledged my voice in her head. That's a good sign." Alice said, with a slight smile. 'The name of the wizard you has you is Alexandria, I believe. You must not listen to her voice. Only mine and yours. If you ignore her for long enough, I think that may be enough to keep her out of your mind.'